Viral Internet video of a human-caused sinkhole swallowing a clump of trees whole, in Bayou Corne, Assumption Parish, Louisiana.
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WCTV posted 22 August 2013, Sinkhole Swallows Trees In Seconds
Assumption Parish, LA – Cameras were rolling just as a sinkhole swallowed a group of trees….
CBS News reports that the sinkhole now covers 25 acres, and is expected to keep growing.
Video from NOLA.com of another tree going in: Continue reading
Citizens are calling for GA PSC Chuck Eaton to call it off. Since apparently GA PSC does have authority over natural gas pipelines, maybe we should talk to our Commissioner H. Doug Everett about that proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline through Lowndes County. Wasting resources on natural gas now is foolish when solar will overtake everything within a decade and we should be getting on with sun power for Lowndes County instead of methane for Florida.
Brookhaven Post 23 August 2013, Deteriorating conditions at AGL regulator station site has citizens calling for its removal,
An Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) regulator station that is being constructed on Parcel 36 off of Clairmont Rd., has been a project of concern for some time now. Site conditions such as trenches full of water, deteriorating banks, eroding foundations, corrosion, substandard and hazardous construction practices, and a host of other issues, have become the catalyst to amplifying an effort to have Public Service Commissioner, Chuck Eaton, intervene and ask that AGL cease construction and remove the station.
-jsq
Did Demarcus Marshall know when he asked, “The water is good now, right?” about the 15 “Health Based Violations” and the 4 “Complete Failure to Report” plus the 1 “Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)”, all in the last ten years? Maybe some of those have to do with why Lowndes County is doing major upgrades to the Alapaha Water System by the end of March 2015. However, given all those “Complete Failure to Report”, how will we know when or if it’s fixed? These reports found by Chris Graham. -jsq
U.S. EPA
SWDIS Violation Report:
This report was created on AUG-22-2013 Results are based on data extracted on JUL-30-2013 |
| Type of Violation | Compliance Period Begin Date | Compliance Period End Date | Drinking Water Rule or Contaminant | Analytical Result | Violation ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCL, Average | JUL-01-2012 |
SEP-30-2012 |
TTHM | .166 | 11422 |
| Follow-up Action | Date of Response |
|---|---|
| St Public Notif requested |
MAR-05-2013 |
| St Violation/Reminder Notice |
MAR-05-2013 |
Call in this morning or send written comments. Here are the previous materials (this URL works; the one in the NRC PR is broken). See also NRC’s PR and Commission Direction. The nuclear industry has been pushing for changes for a year now; see more posts. Rather than relaxing rules on foreign ownership of operating reactors, how about stop accepting foreign nuke parts from the likes of document-forging Doosan, which supplies Plant Vogtle among a dozen or so other U.S. nukes?
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They support Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android, but not Linux. Seriously? And NRC is asking technical questions?
NRC PR 7 August 2013, NRC Webinar Aug. 21 to Discuss Regulations On Foreign Ownership of U.S. Reactors, Continue reading
Traffic and taxes were discussed by Commissioners about REZ-2013-09 Moody Family
Housing on Val Del Road,
but none of them thought those topics important enough to make them conditions,
and they didn’t even discuss
use of local contractors
or
sinkholes
like the one in the Phase II site,
or the missing
geotechnical study
mentioned in the
USAF Draft Environmental Assessment whose comment period wasn’t even ended
when they voted
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
As he had at the previous morning’s
Work Session,
Commissioner John Page wanted to know if that traffic study
was going to be required before the development could start.
Planning Commissioner Tommy Willis had also asked about that
back in July.
This time Page didn’t ask about GA 122 or anywhere other than
“Val Del and that area”.
Answer from County Engineer Mike Fletcher: Continue reading
Received yesterday on Florida sinkholes spreading real estate effects in same Aquifer as under Lowndes County. -jsq
John — Thank you for pressing forward on this important issue for the airmen and their families at Moody AFB as well as for all citizens of Lowndes County. My colleagues and I are also concerned and hope that we can eventually obtain the Phase I geotechnical study. Of course, we have our own research agendas as well as a desire to see our students working on these problems close to their own university campus. In particular, one of my undergraduate students just completed his thesis on karst subsidence beneath a house in Lowndes County. Here is a link to a poster where he presented those finding to our undergraduate research conference: GPR Investigation of Subsidence.
-Don Thieme
Ground-Penetrating Radar Investigation of Subsidence
Benjamin Davis, Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences
in Covered Karst near Valdosta
Faculty Sponsor: Donald M. ThiemeAbstract
Continue reading
Florida real estate effects of sinkholes in the same Floridan Aquifer that underlies Lowndes County would be worth looking at before rushing to build Moody Housing around a sinkhole on Val Del Road. It’s not just the sinkhole that may widen, it’s housing prices that may drop.
Diana Olick wrote for CNBC 15 August 2013, Overdevelopment widens Florida sinkhole problem,
Sinkholes may be as old as the earth itself, but the increase in sinkhole activity is new. The rush to reason why has put scientists, engineers and real estate developers at odds.
DAVID MANNING / Reuters
A section of the Summer Bay Resort lies collapsed after a large sinkhole opened on the property’s grounds in Clermont, Fla. on Aug. 12.Some geological experts believe the sinkhole activity is increasing because developers are pumping more water out of the ground for new projects or for agricultural use. While acid in the water itself is what causes the limestone under much of Florida to dissipate and create the holes, the water also acts as a support. Add water from heavy rains on the top soil, and you’ve got a bigger problem.
It is even beginning to weigh on the recovering real estate market in Florida.
Recent sinkholes of note in Lowndes County include: Continue reading
No geotechnical study was seen from the developer before drawing the sinkhole buffers shown in the the Air Force Draft Environmental Assessment for the proposed Moody Housing on Val Del Road, just rezoned as REZ-2013-09, PDF courtesy of Prof. Michael Noll of VSU. You can see sinkholes and wetlands in its maps:
Most of the site area, including all of the Phase I area subject of REZ-2013-09, is colored for medium wetland habitat quality: Continue reading
A VSU professor
said he was in favor of the economic benefits,
but geotechnical issues should determine whether
the new Moody Housing on Val Del Road
(REZ-2013-09)
should be built, and those were still unclear,
at
the 13 August 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.
Dr. Michael Noll of VSU said he was speaking because he had been referred to by previous speakers (Jason Davenport and Tom Kurrie), and he was neither for nor against REZ-2013-09. Dr. Noll’s neither-in-favor-nor-against position seemed to puzzle County Engineer Mike Fletcher. Noll said he and his colleagues had looked at the Environmental Assessment (EA) which has been available at the public library and concluded that they had a number of questions they’d like answered, and he was sure the developers had similar concerns for safety of the project.
Dr. Noll said they’d been trying to get a copy of the geotechnical analysis Continue reading
Entergy announced August 8th that its Arkansas nuke was back up after a man died there in March, but it only made it to 87% power on August 12th and then back to zero yesterday. There’s no NRC event for yesterday’s downtime: what’s going on? Meanwhile, the dead man’s family is suing Entergy, and Entergy is suing its contractors. Sounds like the Plant Vogtle circular firing squad.
THV11 wrote 8 August 2013, Nuclear One unit back on after deadly accident and EBR staff wrote more detail for Energy Business Review 9 August 2013, Entergy restarts Unit 1 at Arkansas Nuclear One power plant,
Prior to restart, the unit needed an extensive restoration, including damage evaluation, repairs to non-nuclear plant components and rescheduling its refueling activities.
The restoration was made compulsory following the collapse of a contractor’s crane on 31 March 2013, while shifting a generator stator out of the turbine building.
Hm, “made compulsory” by whom? NRC? OSHA, which also investigated? Arkansas? Other? Continue reading